Sunshine State Censors Rebut

Florida state attorneys are asking a federal judge to toss the lawsuit filed by six major publishers, the Authors Guild, and a coalition of authors, students, and parents over the newly enacted law allowing hundreds of books to be banned from schools statewide. Much further north, the buyer of Minnesota’s first Black woman–owned indie bookstore has been revealed: Terresa Moses, a University of Minnesota professor, has taken the reins at Black Garnet Books in St. Paul. A new survey from the American Society of Journalists and Authors and Gotham Ghostwriters hints at the economics behind the business of ghostwriting. And fall conference season continues, with the inaugural Poulsbo Kids’ Book Festival held last week, the joint show for the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion kicking off this weekend, and an independent press–focused fair slated for Rome in December. Book Riot reports that Utah has now banned 14 books from schools statewide, and the Cut wonders how the publishing industry will respond to Trump’s second term. Vanity Fair profiles Cormac McCarthy’s longtime secret muse, whom he met when he was 42 and she was 16, and the Hollywood Reporter interviews Toph Eggers, the younger brother of author Dave Eggers and a central character in the latter’s blockbuster memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, about how they became estranged. The New York Times talked with Well-Read Black Girl founder Glory Edim about her foray into publishing. And Clydene Nee, the comics colorist behind San Diego Comic-Con’s Artist Alley, has died.